252gal in wall construction diary

[logans_daddy]

well the day is finally here. i began construction on my tank. i will get the tank completely up and running with a fish room before i begin finishing the basement although some projects will coincide.

i only recently decided to document my build on RC mainly because i have seen how helpful feedback can be with a construction diary. im going to start the thread in our own little forum mainly because the other forum is for "large reef tanks" which this wont be. i will try to keep the thread updated faithly but it will be a slow process since i keep pretty busy with other obligations. all insights, suggestions, comments, and criticism welcome(be nice with the criticism ) anyways here was the first step





here is the stand with the 3/4" plywood and 1/2" foam resting on top. it is not attached yet because i am waiting on the tanks drain dimensions so that i can drill holes



the stands dimensions are all within a 1/16" of an inch and sturdy as hell. i havent decided if im going to add diagonal cross braces for peace of mind. here will be the first little fishy to go in the tank.



shawn:bum:

 

[jasert39]

wow that stand looks really sturdy...are you planning a sump beneath it? Only ask because with the vertical braces already attached doesnt look like you will be able to fit a large tank in there? Im sure you thought of it but figured id ask anyway.

Nice work though, looks great. Ill be following along.

 

[logans_daddy]

thanks. actually the sump is going to be a 100gal rubbermaid stock tank. i want a very large sump so that i can increase my total system volume to 300+ gallons for water stability. i was thinking about putting the sump 1/2 underneath perpendicular to the stand but the tank is to tall. the waste of space wont be too much of an issue since i will have a large fish room behind the tank. im sure i will think of a way to utilize the space underneath the stand sooner or later.

shawn:bum:

 

[dvlhzdu]

Good luck and thanks for the post. It looks like your off to a great start.
Tom

 

[logans_daddy]

i just officially paid for the tank. after a lot of research i decided to order my tank from The Aquarium Company in winthrop MN. here is a copy of the invoice.

4 3/4" bulkhead 5.99 23.96
2 1" bulkead 6.99 13.98
4 3/4" loc-line w/round nozzles 6.50 26.00
2 screened intake 2.82 5.64
6 Routered Closed Loop holes 3.00 18.00
1 Auction Aquarium 1,049.00 1,049.00

Subtotal: $1,136.58
Shipping: 185.00


i almost fell over when they said they would drill all 6 holes(2 intakes and 4 returns), including bulkheads, strainers, and locline nozzles for less than $90. i wasnt going to even ask but just do it myself. boy am i glad i asked. they are also going to ship it via freight from MN to my front door for $185. their prices just cant be beat. here is a link to the auction

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...90013677510&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWA:IT&rd=1

to some people this may not seem cheap but i can assure you that asides from glasscages.com i dont think anyone can beat their prices. i even consulted with that fish place's custom aquarium department and i got a quote of almost $2500 for a 240gal long. the customer service is top notch. i only hope the rest of this transaction continues to go as smooth.

shawn:bum:

 

[kaptken]

Good start Shawn!!

Is this going to be an in wall tank in the basement? with a finished rec room wall on the tank face? sounds good, I wish I had a basement to play in. You know, to protect the rest of the finished basement from water spills or overflows, you could tile the tank room floor with a 6 inch high curb to contain any leaks or spills. or perhaps epoxy coat the floor and wall, for easy clean up before anything gets set in place. maybe even run a drain line through the curb to a floor drain or french drain sump if it's close. something like the tank room in this months tank of the month?

This is a great idea, Thank you for setting up this forum thread and sharing your work. we shall all be watching the progress with interest. and hey!, Your little Nemo looks like a keeper!! I'm sure he's going to enjoy growing up with a nice big reef in the house to spark his curiosity about sea life.

 

[Safir]

ken - that is similar to what walter had in his equipment room - the floor of the room was about a 4" step down from teh rest of the basement, and ther ewas a small trough along the wall from the area under the tank to the area under a nearby utility sink - When i was ther ether ewas no light so i was unable to determine the specifics of the hook-up to the sink drain. seemed an excellent idea to me.

 

[logans_daddy]

thats a good idea. i never really thought of a scenario for containing a spill. now that i think about it, the way my basement slopes if i had a large spill it would run directly through the finished portion. it may be worth trying to come up with a cheap viable soultion. im in no hurry to put up drywall because we just moved into the house in the spring and i want to see how dry the basement stays. there is a brand new top of the line french drain system installed about 6months before we moved in but we still had water a couple of weeks back during all the rain. im 99.9% sure the water was from the sump pump losing power(<-will look into battery backup....add it to the list ) but i still want to see know for sure.

one thing though.. the way my system is designed...my sumps will be able to contain all water if the return fails with no spillage. as far as topoff goes, i will be using the same float switches i use in my current setup. they are horizontal electric switches with solid state sensors. the good thing about them is that with the way they mount it is impossible to overflow the sump. worse case scenario is the sump would not top off. as far as my rodi, i will be using a a manual float switch with an auto shut off valve. it this fails, the resovoir will be a sealed 55gal food grade drum, which im hoping at full capacity will provide enough pressure to engage the auto shut off valve.

my entire top-off/water change system will be completely automated. ive stolen a few ideas here and there but the final system, which i loving refer to as "the water tower", will be pretty unique im hoping.

so hopefully i can avoid a big spill but i am definitely going to look into a cheap way to keep water from running into my finished room in case of a catastrophe.

shawn:bum:

 

[wds21921]

Logan you know that fish will eventually start climbing don't you ?

Now that's a cute pic!!!!!

Good luck with the tank I can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[kaptken]

Yes, you can easliy make a shallow containment basin out of the tank room. just outline it with a layer of solid concrete brick cemented to the floor/ then you could either tile it with a floor and wall tile, (expensive) or paint it with a garage floor epoxy kit from HD. that will water seal it and make a nice shiny floor. to figure out how much water spill it might contain, just figure the volume of the room basin in cubic inches. L x W x H of the brick in
inches, and divide by 231 cubic inches per gallon. its that simple.
so a curbed room 7 x 10 foot with a 3 inch high brick curb could retain a 130 gallon spill. for instance.

Im sure you will plan and build the best water level control system posible, and may never have a spill, but in the unlikely event of some unforseen equipment or power failure, a few dollars worth of brick and mortor, and epoxy could save replacing a carpet, and soaked drywall that might wick up water. just a little preventative medecine.

I'm fixing a back porch that was framed with a 2 x 4 wood sill directly on the outside patio slab. over time, the rain and snow melt wicked up the sill to the framing and rotted it all out and the paneling too. so im now cutting out the lower half of the walls, shoring up the roof, and pouring a 4 inch curb to get the new sill and lower wall off the slab. a lot of work and expense to fix what would have cost the previous owner 50 bucks worth of brick and mortor to do it right in the first place.

it's less expensive to stay one step AHEAD of Murphy.

 

[Safir]

Don't forget a sump or plumbing springing a leak - it's unlikely but can happen.

of course there' always teh human factor... trip over a bucket full of water or something, might not be 100 gallons of water, but could still make a mess of things.

sounds like you've got a great system planend though - looking forward to more updates and pictures

 

[logans_daddy]

yeah...ive thought of that. the only problem with cementing bricks is that it is a very permanent fixture. i do not plan living in this house for more than 10yrs top. i have even taken tank removal and wall design into consideration while laying out the basement so that i can turn the entire basement into finished space when i move.

shawn:bum:

 

[wds21921]

Hmm something that might be simpler would be to put a small french drain right around the stands base?

I'm not saying it will look beautiful but it will definitely be practical, when you move it's an easy fix to mix concrete to match and simply chip and fill. I doubt your tank would explode for any reason which would surpass the capabilities of the drain.

 

[logans_daddy]

yeah...im really undecided about this. working with concrete is exactly the same thing as cutting up some 2X4's. im really reluctant to start cuttting into my floor but at the same time i want everything about my setup to be done right. i defintely dont want to be kicking myself down the road if a large spill happens...you know the whole thing about an ounce of prevention and all.

anyways, i ran the idea by my wife last night, and lets just say it didnt go over so well.

i really cant think of a scenario where spilling 50+ gallons of water is even possible asides from the tank breaking and nothing is going to help that. i can see a leak or a small overflow happening and thats what i want to prevent.

i was thinking of buying the vinyl baseboards that you see mainly in unfinished cinderblock buildings and attaching it to the 2X4s that make up the bottom plate of my walls. i can then caulk/silicone the bottom of the baseboard to my floor. 2 out of the 4 walls of the fish room are perimeter walls and have a french drain already installed so i would only be doing this on two walls. i dont think this will be 100% waterproof but i can see it holding back water long enough for me to clean it up(at least 24 hours).

 

[kaptken]

well, brick and mortor will shear off the floor with a hammer and chissel. wont take long. and you can use the brick as a foundation for the temp walls to finish the room. that way the wall will be off the floor when water spills. not a big problem for removal.

I had a hose break off an over flow from my fuge last summer. it dumped the volume of the sump on the dining room carpet until the sump ran dry. salt peals paint right off of wood and blisters the drywall paint. think shallow containment. its not a big deal to do up front in your situation. and you need a footer for the walls anyway.

 

[logans_daddy]

kaptken - do you not think calked vinyl molding will work? all i reall need is a way to keep the water from running under my walls until i can shop-vac it up. it will be much less inexpensive, much easier to do(from my stand point at least ), and im hoping just as effective.

other news. i just finished my light rack and pulley system tonight. ive got an electric winch on the way this week. i still have some tweaks but i will try to post pictures tomorrow.

shawn :bum:

 

[wds21921]

The vinyl molding with calk sounds like a much better idea. Easier to implement and would look better also.
It should also be reasonable enough to handle a medium to small overflow or leak.
Sounds like a winner to me.

 

[kaptken]

no reason it wouldnt. Ive seen that white pebbled vinyl wall liner in 4 x 8 sheets at home depot. I'm sure that can be glued with tile adhesive, silicone should stick to it if its tight to the floor and wall , just caulk all the seams. the finished pebble side is pretty slick though. but i spose you could put it face down and use the back side as the walking on side. no problem, if it leaks, its only carpet. mine always dries out after a spill. just smells funny on humid days.

 

[logans_daddy]

ok. so finally an update. we have the main wall framed out. i still have to level, shim, and attach the walls to the rafters and floor.



i also have 90% of the electrical panel finished. as you can see from the pictures the box is double hinged. the outside door is to fully enclose the box while the inside door(the one with the switches) opens to gain access to the receptacles in case there is a problem.





here is a pic of the box "hot". i temprarily wired the box into my breaker box to make sure everythink was wired correctly

[img=http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/4643/tankjournal009kg8.jpg]


here are a couple of pics of the guts of the box.



[img=http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/8598/tankjournal011zz7.jpg]

the box is fed by 2 15 amp dedicated lines. 1 for the lights and 1 for everything else. the top two banks are DJ switches . 8 devices can be plugged into the back of each switch and turned on/off individually with the flick of the corresponding switch(which will soon be labeled). the single switch in the middle of the third row is a master switch which will turn off all outlets on both DJ switches. the four double receptacles are for lights. each light is controlled by its own intergrated timer and has its own switch. all lights can be turned off by the master light switch located in the middle of the bottom row. all lights will plug into the 4 GFI outlets in the pic above.

i still need to clean up the exterior of the box a little bit and finish the interior(im missing a gangway box). i will post more pics when the box is completed and mounted. as you can see from the pic below, my helper had a real rough day.



shawn:bum:

 

[logans_daddy]

i just noticed some of the pics didnt post. will post more when its complete. in case your wondering, the 2X4 that is not even with the frame is my light rack suspended from the ceiling. its not finished(needs lights, wiring, and winch) and its by no means level. i will post detail pictures of the rack when its finished or close to being finished.

shawn:bum: